The wind was perfect for the cruising chute and the Genoa to be set as a 'goosewing'. This is when you have the 2 sails out at each side of the bow to make as much of the light wind as possible. We sailed all the way to the small harbour/marina intending to anchor in the tiny bay outside but the swell was too uncomfortable so we headed straight into the marina and berthed there for the night. 28€ for the night low season inc of electricity and wifi! Another dvd ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

. Steve was in shorts and I’m was in a strappy top it was so warm. I decided to start on making the cushion covers for the boat saloon. The blue ones were getting very tired looking and as I had covered the navigation desk seat with new fabric (and it looked great) thought I may as well continue with the scatter cushions. I bought fabric back in Eastbourne before we set off meaning to hand sew them during the winter months.

At 1230 we set off and left the harbour to find a very nice light breeze on our stern quarter that had us scurrying for the cruising chute again. I had a lesson in how to raise the thing from the deck (usually I am in the cockpit managing the lines etc). A cruising chute is a large colourful lightweight sail that makes the most of light winds that are blowing onto the stern area.

A fabulous sail all the way to our anchorage in Albir close to Altea from where I updated this blogsite. We flew past Benidorm on the way which was a line of very tall skyscraper buildings (see photos), past Isle de Benidorm and rounded the headland to Altea at 6-7knots. Sailing by the very steep cliffs there we hit 8 knots and increased wind speed of 20 knots so that we had to drop the chute and motor the mile into the sheltered anchorage at Playa Albir just off Altea marina

. We picked up a free mooring buoy in 8m of depth off the beach and after tidying up we settled down for the next 3 nights in this delightful seaside town.

ALBIR to CALPE

After our 3 nights we left the next morning and got the cruising chute up once again when we had motored the short distance out of the bay to pick up the wind.

A fantastic sail along the coast crossing the Greenwich 0 degree line of longitude on the way putting us back in the Eastern hemisphere since we had crossed it back in June.

Calpe is a seaside town and the rock is a well known landmark and is found on lots of postcards here in Spain. It is very popular with British ex-pats. We needed to get to the other side of the rock for our sheltered anchorage and we sailed all the way on the chute gradually moving it round as we rounded the rock and only put the engine on at the very end to anchor off the beach for the night.

CALPE to DENIA

Another great sail along the coast intending to reach Gandia for a stopover before sailing to Valencia

. We had studied the charts and found that this particular part of the coast had very little in the way of sheltered anchorages so it meant that if we wanted to reach Valencia next we had to do one long sail to get there. Everything was going just great on this leg and we were cruising along nicely as before when the wind died…yep…17 knots to nought in a few minutes. It’s so frustrating when you’re having such a brilliant time and the boat is simply gliding through the water effortlessly and then it stops. GRrrrrr! Fortunately, we were about to pass by Denia a large ferry port to the Balearics, so we had a quick look at the charts and noticed an area outside the breakwater that was made to anchor in. The engine went on for a short time to get us to the anchorage and we dropped it in 4m. That night the sea was so calm you didn’t notice any movement at all. It was like glass.

You can see that we have been anchoring a lot over the last week and it has been a wonderful experience. The water on board has not run out yet and neither have the provisions. We’re not smelling too nice but hey it’s only us here! Only kidding! We have been very careful with water and it is surprising how little you can get by with. Our last stock up for food was back in Torrevieja at the local market before we left.

Well 7am actually and that is the crack of dawn for us these days. Spain is one hour ahead and it’s very very dark at 7am.

The passage to Valencia was charted at 41nm and so at an average of 5knots per hour it would take a little over 8 hours. The night before the batteries were misbehaving and not keeping their charge so we had decided to motor for 2 hours next day at the least to give them a good charge. As it turned out we had to motor all the way because the winds we were expecting from the south didn’t materialise. It was a boring passage with nothing of note to mention until we arrived through the anchored cargo ships and unattractive port to berth at Juan Carlos 1 marina for 4 nights. This is the marina built for the America’s Cup in 2007. As we were sailing by the breakwater wall we saw some porpoises swimming along. Tying up at the waiting pontoon we were immediately greeted by Pablo who was an instructor on the yacht in front of us

The marina actually closed at 2pm but the staff came back to book the waiting yachts in and were very helpful. What was even better was the nightly charge of 16€ inc of electricity, water and wifi. Can you believe that? We may stay a little longer!

So there we were in this city by the sea. I had heard and read that it was an amazing place to visit, so am really looking forward to seeing some of the sights.